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STA are an independent travel company who specialise in students and young travellers. They often find the best deal in flights - whether it is a weekend in Europe or a trip around the world. I myself have used them several times and find them very helpful. The way in which they can often find the cheapest price is by a discount card that you can purchase if you are a student or under 26 - it costs around £6. This card then entitles you to discount airfares and discount accomodation. STA also offer competitive prices even without this card. The reason I like to use STA is that there assistants will spend a lot of time with you and listen to what you want and then set about trying to get you the best deal. For instance I recently wanted to travel to Costa RIca but needed to go to San Francisco on my way home - not the normal route. Another trvel firm I went to where unhelpful, muttered somethings about me backtracking and came up with a price of £700. The I went to STA. The guy who I dealt with was extremely friendly and chatty and had travelled alot himself so was advising me what to see whilst finding me the cheapest price. He tried many ways singles, returns, etc and came up with an excellent price of £580. I was aloso advised on insurance, visas and injections that were required. The after I had booked my flights I was sent an internary by email and told that if I wanted to change it I could email from wherever I was and the changes done and the changed iternary emailed back. Very 21st century. The only problem you may find is that the queues can be quite long as the sales assistants do deal very throughly with your requests - but can this be classed as a bad thing if you get the same treatment. My advice to solve this problem is to avoid lunch times and weekends as they tend to be STAs busiest times. Also don't not go to STA just because you aren't a student or under 26 - the y still offer competive prices on airfares.

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I received the Bill Bryson book for a Christmas present and although a avid book lover I had never read a travel book before, except if you can count the lonely planet guide to Austraila. I was the bought the book because I spent some time in Austraila and it was thought I would enjoy reading about the places I'd been. As soon as I picked up the book I was reluctant to put it down and found myself reading into the early hours of the morning, laughing out loud as Bill describes his journey around Austraila. The way he describes his journey is unique and his obsession with killer animals, especially sealife is humourous. Even though I had been to many places he visited, the book has made me want to go back as there are so many things I seem to have missed. Although he visits the big tourist attractions such as Aryes Rock, Sydney and Melbourne, he points out many attractions that the average traveller wouldn't neccessarily go. The way he interacts the history into the book is also well done, I really feel I learnt a lot about the country. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a good read, whether you've travelled to Austraila or not. If you haven't been though be warned as you will want to. I found Bill's writing style very good and he always kept me interested. I am very keen to read further work by him.

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Being a PhD student and already having been a student now for 5 years I obviously look out for anything that is free. That is why I noticed the website www.freeinuk.co.uk I went to this website and signed up for the weekly newsletter thinking nothing would ever come of it, however I must say I was pleasantly surprised! I clicked on a number of the links to see what they had on offer - one of my favourite being for jellybelly.com. I entered my email address to receive a free sample of jellybeans and within two days I had received them! Very nice they were too. I have recently applied for other freebies informed by the site and am waiting on the outcome. So initial rating is good - however watch this space and I shall update on how further freebies turn out! ********************************************* OK I promised an update and here it is. I don't tend to visit the site that much but every week I recive a news letter informing me what the latest freebies are. From this I usually decide whther or not to register from the freebie. I have never had a deadlink that was from the newsletter. To date I have received free jellybeans, makeup, chocolate and a tshirt so not bad going.

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I am writing this opinion from personal experience as I believe that I initially did a PhD for the wrong reasons. When it came to the end of my course I had applied for a few jobs but wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. I was about to become a Master in Chemistry so surely I should do something involving my discipline? As part of my course I had done a short research project and was advised that I should stay in the area and do a PhD, as I had no idea what else I could do I agreed and was told I would start in the October on the basic £6,600 grant. Thinking back I never really decided on a choice of what I exactly wanted to do my research on and was just given a title and once I started I sort of knew I had made the wrong decision. I gave it my best shot but to cut a long story short I was having to learn computer programming from a text book which was nothing to do with Chemistry and nothing like my Masters project. Six months down the line I knew I had to make a decision about my PhD. I was dreading going into university and really wanted to quit but it was such a hard decision. If a quit I thought I would be labelled as a failure and I would have wasted six months of my life which I eventually understood wasn't true. Now a year later I am doing a new PhD as I decided I did want to further my education but had just chosen the wrong field. The institution I was at originally were excellent and helped me decide which area I wanted to go into and found me knew sponsorship to sart a brand new PhD. I am now just about to start my second year researching pollutants in the atmosphere, which I love and find very interesting. My advice is do not do a PhD because you don't know what else to do, it is a 4 year commitment with little money. Think carefully about waht area you want to go into and why it is of intetrest to you. It is a long time to study a subject you find boring. Finally if you do decide to do a PhD and after a while you discover it is not for you - YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!!! Far from it you had the capability to try it which you should be proud of.

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No one can say that supporting Middlesbrough Football Club is an easy ride. Having being a supporter for all my 24 years and a season ticket holder the past few seasons, I have seen us go through an awful lot. Who could forget the gates being locked on Ayresome Park, the glorious return to division one, the Cellnet Riverside Satdium, Ravaneli's hat-trick, three cup finals in a year and relegation! These are just a few of the memories I have of Boro. My point, well once again Middlesbrough are struggling at the foot of the Premiership and every game is a tense battle for players and supporters but I would rather have that than a boring club that finishes mid- table every season never being a talking point! At least with the Boro there is always something to talk about. However remind me about this opinion when I am swearing at Boro at the end of the season when we miss out on relegation by a few points once again and decided not to follow fottball anymore - well at least until next season!!!

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If you're ever in Leeds amd fancy a good night out be it at a weekend or midweek then you should pay a visit to Heaven and Hell. Be warned though -it will be busy except if you go in the student holidays. It has three floors of music - heaven for you cheese lovers, bar purgatory to chill out in and Hell for those who like nothing more than to boogie to house tunes all night. At a weekend, like all night clubs it is pricey to get in and drinks are expensive but midweek is a whole different matter. Ranging from 80p to £4 entrance depending on the weekenight you'd be hard pushed to spend £20 with a wide choice of drinks at a £1 bottle, alcopops and beers. With it getting very busy during term time that also means it gets very hot so be warned you'll probably finish the evening very hor and sweaty!

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Dirty dancing is a fantastic film, very watchable. Too watchable probably as I myself have watched too many times but never noticed until recently what someone pointed out to me. This is the funny part where Patrick Swayze jumps out of the bed after him and Baby have spent the night together ( think it may be for the first time) and pulls on his tight leather trousers! Watch his face for the point wear he grimaces as he catches a part of his body in the zip! Quite amusing! Obviously other parts of this romance are woth watching. Basically its about a innocent young girl ( the "Baby" of the family) who goes on holiday with her family and falls for the bad-boy dancer when she becomes his partner for one night to help out. Without gicving too much away she has to make a big decision on letting down her father or saving the man she loves! If you don't like slushy endings then be warned this may make you queasy. The dance sequences in this film are great and make you try them! The soundtrack is equally as good.

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Everybody should be told about this website. I was told about it by a friend so logged on and registered and was amazed to find my best friend and brother had already registered. Basically this is a site where you register at all the schools you ahve attended and state the year you left and leave a message about what you are doing now. The idea that others will hear about the site then they to will register and you can email each other through the website when you become a paid member costing £5 a year. Yes I can hear you already theres always a catch with these things but that is not true with friends reunited. You can view other peopole who have left you school and their message if they have left one free of charge and there is ways to get around the fee. For instance staying your first bit of the email and then hinting the end bit. They even email you when people have registered for one of your schools. I registered on this site and within two days I had heard from an old school friend who I hadn't seen for years and we are meeting up shortly. This is an ideal website for contacting old school friends who you never meant to lose contact with and see how successful the ones you though would never go far are!

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I first registered my hotmail email account nearly two years ago, when I went travelling aroung Austraila. then it ideal - it downloaded quickly and sent my messages off at a fast speed. Everything I wanted for my travels. When I got back I started using my work email but still kept my hotmail account open which I used when purchasing train tickets or joining companies on the internet. However recently I have been receiving emails from @msn telling me where the best porn is on the internet and whats new. Hotmail has a block sender option which I have tried to invoke several times but it never stops the emails getting through. I am updating this opinion because two months later I am still receiving porn emails form hotmail. I wish I could inform these people that I do not need to lose weight, reduce my debts or enlarge my penis either! the emails are still getting through even though I blocked them. If anyone else has advice I'd love to know. I don't want to discontinue my hotmail account as I use it regularly but I am sick of the spam emails I keep receiving which seem to take up the majority of my inbox. I have now resorted to registering a new email account with a different company.